Chapter Text
The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 8: South Side of the Sky
Scene 13: Native Soil
8.13
Native Soil
“I really hope we don’t have to shoot our way out of this.”
This was how Commodore Yui Song greeted Captain Skip Howard as he joined her on the bridge of the U.S.S. Escort.
After the snowstorm had blown over, due to the emergency in the space over what Howard and his rescue team had come to refer to as the Purple Planet, Yui had boarded the Escort and Captain Rhonda Carter had dived the smallest and sturdiest of the three capital ships of the Beagle Task force deep into the atmosphere to collect the shuttle with the rescue team.
“Okay, so what is with all these… Did these people give a name for themselves?” Howard asked.
“The Holy Lands,” Carter and Yui responded in unison.
“These Holy Landers,” Howard continued. “What is their damage? Why do they have 27… Did they say what those ships are?”
“No,” said Carter.
“...27 of those holy scarabs in orbit?” Howard finally asked.
Commodore Yui was clearly annoyed. “They keep going on about losing contact with a Holy Regent and demanding to know whether her feet met the soil of that planet down there.”
“I take it the Beagle and the Mako are on yellow alert?” Howard asked.
“Shields up, weapons hot, as are we,” Rhonda Carter replied. Her tight, small figure was poised on the edge of her captain’s chair. “These Holy Landers are acting like they’re ready to start a holy war.”
“If it’s a fight, Senek and Dutchie will find other things to do and leave the fighting to Sakura,” said Howard. “Which is something she’s good at.”
“Krank is with her,” said Carter.
“Who is captaining the Mako? Bates?” asked Howard.
“Jason is also a cool hand in a fight,” Yui Song replied. “The main reason I keep him around. He doesn’t like being XO and is pretty much useless for everything else. But when there’s a fight, I’d rather have him center seat than anyone else on my crew. Even myself.”
“Well, the one Holy Lander I spoke to said their queen had “hallowed this land with her feet”.”
“That sounds hopeful,” Yui mused.
“I wouldn’t be so certain,” Howard replied. “He also said that if she died the planet would die with her.”
“Well, we don’t have a mandate, or even any authority to protect these people.” Yui watched Howard closely. His expression made it clear he did not like her ruling.
“Clearing the atmosphere now, Captain,” said Master Chief Bill Waller, the Escort’s coxswain, from the pilot’s station.
“Are you ready?” Carter asked.
“Let’s talk to these people,” Howard replied.
The U.S.S. Escort came up underneath the U.S.S. Beagle and the U.S.S. Mako, forming a triangle, surrounded by small, vicious-looking warships. The visage of these on the Escort’s screen was replaced with a view of a living female alien, very similar to the one Howard had abandoned in the City. She seemed to glow with an inner, bluish light.
Her two small, stubby front antennae were vibrating. Her two eyes were red and glowing. Her third, compound eye sparkled like some sort of dark jewel, sometimes a shiny black, sometimes crimson, sometimes a dark blue. The third antenna that came up from the back of her head, remained focused on Captain Howard.
“I am told you went to rescue the holy regent, I am Holy Regent.”
“I am Captain Ronald Howard, XIV. I tried to save your regent. She was comatose when I first saw her. Your spacecraft had wrecked on the surface.”
“How did one of our ships wreck when trying to land?” the regent asked.
“The only habitable portion of that planet is a mountain range, which has inhospitable conditions for landing,” Howard replied. “They attempted to land the craft in an area that was not prepared for landing instead of one of the two cleared space ports. We would not fly our craft in such inhospitable conditions. We landed at a space port and walked in to find them. If we had flown where they did, we would have wrecked as well.”
“Captain Ronald Howard, XIV,” the alien started. “Did our holy regent hallow the soil of that planet with her feet?”
Howard waited a moment, then took a deep breath. “No. She did not.”
“How can you be so certain?”
“Holy Regent, I walked on that planet for 14 days. I walked on snow. I walked on city streets. I walked on the floors of houses. I never even saw the soil of that planet. Your ship was buried in a snow bank. We entered the craft in order to rescue your people. Even if your holy regent had been able to walk out of her ship, her feet would not have touched soil. But she was carried out. I tried to save her. There are two different species of intelligent creatures living in those mountains. People from both of those species helped me. But she was too badly wounded from the crash. We could not save her.”
The alien’s expression seemed, somehow, to darken. “The Holy Regent never hallowed that soil.”
With that, her visage disappeared from the Escort’s screen, to be replaced by a view of part of her fleet of war ships.
Gradually, one ship after another broke formation, then glided away.
Commodore Yui was visibly relieved. “How did you know how they would react?”
“I didn’t,” Howard admitted. “I just told her the truth.”
“You told her part of the truth,” Yui rejoined. “You made it seem as though you were there when that alien was carried out of their ship. We both know that isn’t true.”
“I gave her the Cliff’s Notes version…” Captain Skip Howard made an amused noise. “I did not imply. I just allowed her to infer. Captain Carter, thank you for the rescue and for your hospitality, but it’s been a long assignment under rough conditions, and I’m really looking forward to a hot shower and a soft bed. By your leave?”
“You know you are welcome to bunk down here,” said Rhonda Carter.
“Hot shower. Soft bed,” Howard replied.
“Permission to disembark granted, Captain.” Carter smiled.
Commodore Yui Song landed a hand on Howard’s shoulder. “Sleep well, Skip. You’ve earned it. Oh, by the way, what was the name of that city?”
“The City,” Howard replied.
“Just the City?” Yui asked.
“There were refugees from all over the planet. They all wanted to name their last city after wherever they had come from. So after years of arguing over the name, they had just been calling it the City all that time and eventually, it just stuck.” Howard stifled a yawn.
Yui Song patted Captain Howard’s shoulder. “Hot shower. Soft bed.”
“Yep.” Howard turned to leave.
On his way to the bridge exit, Howard was overtaken by another cavernous yawn that required a full body stretch before he could make it through the door.
South Side of the Sky